Roundup: GAO: Gov't waste of natural gas costing taxpayers millions; 40-hour work week still has families in poverty; mo…
Probe turns up widespread waste of natural gas
Significant amounts of natural gas on federal lands are being wasted, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars each year and adding to harmful greenhouse gas emissions, a congressional investigation has found.
The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said the Bureau of Land Management failed to conduct production inspections for hundreds of high-priority oil and gas wells — roughly 1 out of 5 — to ensure full payment of royalties to the federal government.
The report, obtained by The Associated Press before its public release, is the latest to highlight substantial gaps in oversight. An AP review of government records in May 2014 found the agency, which manages oil and gas development on federal and Indian lands, had been overwhelmed by a boom in a new drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Study: Full-time work no escape from poverty
How often have you felt that no matter how hard and long you work, you just can't make ends meet? Tuns out life is just that hard for minimum-wage workers pretty much around the globe.
A global ranking published Wednesday by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development painted a grim picture of the situation in member countries straddling continents. The 34-member organization found that a legal minimum wage existed in 26 countries and crunched the numbers to see how they compared.
Forget taking a siesta in Spain. There, you'd have to work more than 72 hours a week to escape the trappings of poverty.
Turns out that is the norm, not the exception. In 21 countries — including France, home to the 35-hour work week — a full 40-hour work week still won't lift families out of relative poverty. Minimum-wage workers in France who are supporting a spouse and two children need to work 40.2 hours to get their families out of poverty.
Occidental ‘lifer' to be 1st female oil chief
Occidental Petroleum Corp. named 33-year company veteran Vicki Hollub to become the first female chief executive officer of a major U.S. oil company.
Hollub, 55, will assume control of Occidental's oil and natural gas business worldwide as an interim step to succeeding current CEO Stephen Chazen “after a thorough transition period,” the Houston-based company said in a statement. Occidental said in March that Chazen, 68, would step down at the 2016 annual meeting.
Hollub is a University of Alabama-trained mineral engineer who has seen the company evolve from the global conglomerate assembled by the late Armand Hammer to a slimmed-down explorer focused on the U.S. Great Plains, a handful of Persian Gulf countries and Latin America.
Other business news
• L.B. Foster Co. posted big profit and revenue increases in the first quarter on strong demand for its rail products. The Green Tree-based company boosted net income 19 percent to $4.3 million, or 41 cents a share, in the January-March quarter, up from $3.6 million, or 35 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue jumped 24 percent to $137.9 million.
• Ansys Inc. reported a 1 percent decline in first-quarter profit despite an increase in sales. The Cecil-based engineering simulation software company had net income of $56.1 million, or 61 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $56.6 million, or 60 cents a share, a year ago. Per-share profit was higher due to the company's buying back stock. Sales increased 1 percent to $217.8 million, from $215.3 million.
— Staff and wire reports
